Timber Lake Theater, DePaul start livestreaming initiative

Timber Lake Playhouse, DePaul start livestream initiative

MT. CARROLL – Timber Lake Playhouse will offer a livestream broadcast of its 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11 performance of “What a Wonderful World” thanks to a partnership with DePaul University.

JoAnne Zielinski and Wendy Roderweiss from DePaul’s School of Cinematic Arts faculty will lead a team of professional crew members to produce the event.

“When Broadway shut down due to COVID-19, Timber Lake Playhouse saw their industry completely halted,” said Zielinski. “No one knew the kind of impact it would create. Theaters scrambled to reinvent themselves and look for new opportunities to stay relevant. As a patron and supporter of Timber Lake, I felt a real calling to initiate a conversation about the possibilities of livestreaming.”

The goal of the pilot is to create a framework to livestream all the theater’s productions beginning in the summer of 2022 by hiring DePaul’s film students in paid internship positions. Zielinski said the university has been live streaming events for a decade.

Tickets for livestream performances are $25 per device, $75 for a family.